Fast Cars and Freedom
by SlytherinDearie
Summary: Elita-One and Optimus Prime are finally reunited, but will the war between the Autobots and Decepticons tear them apart once more?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own none of the original Transformers characters or any of the songs mentioned. Be sure to go to my profile and check out the stories playlist!

_Tap tap tap_

Lacey tapped her pencil on the desk anxiously. She looked up at the clock on the wall.

'Five more minutes. Just five more minutes…' Lacey thought.

"Read chapters one through five of _A Tale of Two Cities _by Tuesday." Her English teacher said in a slow monotone voice. "Be sure to understand the significance of Dr. Manette being 'recalled to life'."

Lacey shifted in her seat. She was getting restless. It wasn't because it was her last class of the day. It wasn't because it was Friday. It was because it was her last class of the day, it was Friday, _and _she was getting a car.

To say that Lacey's driving skills were stunted would be putting it lightly. Being a high school senior, she just got her license the previous week. After nearly crashing her mother's Honda Pilot on her very first time driving and having a satanic Drivers Ed instructor, driving wasn't a happy thought for Lacey Johnson. She didn't really want to learn to drive. All her friends that she saw outside of school had their licenses, so Lacey didn't feel like she was missing out on anything. However, her parents and grandfather were tired of driving her around and decided to give Lacey some incentive.

"If you pass your license test and get straight A's for the next nine weeks, we will buy you a brand new car." Her father had told her.

When her parents, grandfather and herself had this conversation twelve weeks ago, she felt like she was being interrogated. She was sitting down in front of them with minimal light coming from behind her family. They all look very serious. She felt small.

Lacey acquired the straight A's for the required nine weeks (with great effort, at that. She hated studying) and took her driver's licensing test.

She failed.

"I forgot to put my blinker on when I changed lanes." Lacey said dejectedly, coming out of the DMV to her awaiting father.

"It'll be ok. You can try again next week."

That next week, Lacey didn't come to a complete stop at a stop sign, thus failing her test. She failed the week after as well. Finally, on her fourth attempt, Lacey passed her test.

"But just barely." The officer who drove with her said.

Now, Lacey sat her seat, tapping her pencil and waiting for the bell to ring. This was the longest five minutes of her life.

"Psstt…Lacey, what kinda car are ya gonna get?" Lacey's friend Taylor whispered.

Lacey looked behind her to where Taylor was sitting. "I dunno yet. I want a blue one though!" Lacey replied excitedly.

"Send me a pic when you pick one out!" Taylor said.

Suddenly, the bell rang, dismissing the students. Lacey jumped up, hurriedly grabbing her things and running out of the classroom, not bothering to respond to Taylor. She ran down the hallway, darting between her fellow classmates. Finally, she made it to the parking lot where her dad was parked.

"Ok let's go!" She exclaimed excitedly, throwing her things in the backseat carelessly.

"Calm down, I'm just taking you to buy a hunk of metal." Her dad joked. "What kind do you want anyway?"

"It doesn't matter." Lacey replied.

Lacey's father drove to the closest dealership which happened to be a Nissan dealership. Lacey got out the car before her father could turn off the ignition and began searching the lot for her car.

She quickly decided that she didn't like any of the blue cars. The shiny black cars were very appealing to her, but there, at the very end of the lot, was a rose-red Nissan Altima Coupe. It was shiny and sleek and Lacey loved it already. It seemed to be calling her name. She could definitely see her in that car.

"I think I found my car." She said as her dad came up to her.

Her father read the sticker on the window. "It's in our price range. Radio controls on the steering wheel so your mother and I won't have to worry about you getting in wreck because you where messing with the radio and not looking at road. You positive you like this car?"

"Positive." Lacey nodded.

"You don't want that car." A couple of mechanics said, coming out of the dealership's garage.

"Why?" Lacey asked.

"That car's haunted." A mechanic said. "It leaves the lot at night with no one driving it. It comes back on it's own too. It's like it's searching for something."

"You've gotta be kidding me. Do you seriously think I'd believe that? Yeah, _Christine_ by Stephen King, 1983. I read it too. You guys just totally ripped it off." Lacey's father said in annoyance.

"Look, we ain't kiddin'. I saw it take off the night before last without a driver. I've got the security tapes to prove it." A mechanic said as the rest nodded in agreement.

"You guys are on something. C'mon Lacey." Her father said, steering her inside the dealership.

An hour later, Lacey and her father emerged from the dealership with the Altima's keys in her hand.

Lacey got into her car and pressed the ignition button. It roared to life. Her car. She flipped through the radio stations before following her father onto the highway. Lacey couldn't find anything she liked, so searched in her purse for the Nickelback CD She recently bought. Finding it, she slipped it into the CD player. The first few notes of 'Follow You Home' came through the speakers before she changed it to 'Far Away'.

Upon making her musical choice, she pulled out of the dealership and onto the highway. When the song ended, Lacey decided she wanted to listen to the song again. She flipped the radio controls on the steering wheel to navigate back to the song, but the car wouldn't play it. It skipped to the song after 'Far Away' to 'Next Constant'. Lacey tried this several times to no avail. The song wouldn't play. It was almost like the car didn't want to hear the song again.

She gave up on trying to listen to the song again. At a red light, Lacey noticed something odd about the Altima. Where the Nissan logo was on the steering wheel, the was another emblem. It was that of a red robotic looking face.

Over the next few weeks, Lacey noticed odd happenings with her new car that made her believe the car mechanics at the dealership. She would park her car in the driveway at home at night and that morning, she would find it in the garage next to her mother's car. Neither of her parents had put her car in the garage. That and there were songs like 'Far Away' that the car seemed completely adverse to. Mostly love songs. Songs like 'I'm Only Me When I'm With You' by Taylor Swift or 'Raining on Sunday' by Keith Urban. Lacey could only listen to those songs once before the car decided it didn't want to play them again. If the car had songs it didn't like to play, it had songs it liked to play. Whenever Lacey would start her car in the morning, she would hear "Change' by Taylor Swift or 'One Girl Revolution' by Saving Jane resume playing from the night before, even though she wasn't listening to those songs the day before. It was like the car was listening to the songs while it seemed to be taking midnight joyrides.

However, Lacey would soon learn that when it comes to her rose red Nissan Altima Coupe, there is more that meets the eye…..


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimers: I don't own any songs mentioned!

Author's note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Just for clarification purposes this story takes place a year after RotF. This story's play list + 41 ounce bag of Starburst = Good writing J Oh and go to my profile, I updated the play list for this story!

After having the new Altima for a month and half, Lacey found herself getting tired of it's antics. She didn't want to get rid of it. The car was awesome and it had wheels and an engine. Lacey just wanted it to stop taking off and to let her play the songs she wanted! However, she didn't know how to solve that problem. It was time to go to her advice-guru.

"Taylor, my car is haunted!" Lacey said hurriedly , coming into their first hour class.

"And Michael Jackson isn't really dead. He's living under an assumed name in Jamaica, selling pineapples and coconuts with Elvis." Taylor replied sarcastically.

"I'm being serious!" Lacey asserted indignantly. "It takes off with no one driving! And what really pisses me off is that it won't let me listen to my favorite songs!" She said, stomping her foot.

Before Taylor could reply, a student sitting closest to a window said, "Hey Lacey, some one is driving off with your car."

Lacey and Taylor ran to the window only to see the rear of the Altima pull out of the school's parking lot. Lacey cursed loudly and took off out of the classroom, followed closely by Taylor.

"Hey! Where are you girls going?!" Their teacher yelled as they passed him in the hallway.

They didn't reply and continued dodging the people that stood in their way. Finally making it to Taylor's car, they got in and followed Lacey's rogue vehicle. Several times, they almost lost the Altima in the sea of morning rush hour traffic.

"It knows we're following it!" Lacey exclaimed, pointing at her car, "It keeps changing lanes and hiding in front of other cars!"

"Lace, we're either gonna end up on the news for a high speed chase or be counted truant…" Taylor said.

Lacey said nothing for several moments, then she noticed that her car was going to hit a red light. She grinned evilly. "I'll get out at the red light, you can go back to school. I'll say that there was a family emergency or something to explain why we left."

"Are you sure?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah. I mean, I have to get my car back. How would I explain to my parents that my car drove off by itself?"

Lacey and Taylor watched and followed the car as it slammed on it's brakes at the red light. Lacey hurriedly got out of Taylor's car (to the dismay of other drivers) and into her own.

"What the hell is going on?!" Lacey yelled at her car, beating the steering wheel. Lacey wasn't expecting a reply, she got one anyway. Over the radio came a sophisticated female voice saying, "Stop that! I will not take such abuse!" the voice scolded.

"Who is in my car!?" Lacey exclaimed, looking in the backseat, thinking a murderer or rapist was in her car.

"Only you, child. You're vehicle happens to be an Autobot." The car replied annoyance as it drove on the green light.

"A what?" Lacey asked, suddenly realizing that her car really was alive.

"I'll explain everything, I just need to get out of the view of prying eyes…"

Lacey and the car was silent as it drove to the city limits, far from any eyes other than her own. She wondered about her car. Was it an alien? Was it possessed by a dead spirit? Maybe her car just had some kind of new sophisticated technology. Yeah…she liked that last one. It made her seem, and feel, less crazy.

The Altima pulled onto a dirt road. "Get out." it ordered.

Slowly, silently, cautiously, Lacey got out the car and distanced herself from it, fearing what it would do. Suddenly, the car began to rumble. The red fiberglass of the Altima and other car parts slid elegantly into place as the car transformed into a humanlike shape. Lacey Johnson's car was a real life robot. It a head, torso, eyes, a mouth and legs and arms. The fiberglass acted as some kind of armor for the robot. It towered over Lacey. She had a sinking feeling that there were taller ones…

"My name is Elita-One. I am an Autobot from the planet Cybertron."

Lacey stood there with a mix of awe and fear rolling through her mind. What was she supposed to do? Shake it's hand and introduce herself? The Auto-thingy could be dangerous! It would be like having pet monkey. Sure, the monkey would be all cute and cuddly, until it was provoked and ripped it's owners face off! It was the same thing, just that the Auto-thingy could crush Lacey into goo….

Lacey hadn't said anything for a minute or so. Elita snapped her fingers in front of Lacey's face, creating a scratching of metal on metal noise rather than a snapping one.

"Have you gone catatonic?" She asked Lacey.

Lacey shook her head, coming out of her thoughts. "That's where you loose me. What's an Autobot? Are you an alien….or a robot?"

"I guess by human standards, we Autobots fall into both categories." Elita-One replied.

"Why are you here?"

"Millions of years ago, a war began on our home planet of Cybertron. Our enemies, the Decepticons, wanted total conquest of the entire galaxy, while my side only wanted peace for Cybertron and the galaxy. I am the Commander of the Autobot Army and only recently, my forces and I have eradicated the Deceptions presence on Cybertron. The Supreme Commander of the Autobot Army left Cybertron with his forces several stellar cycles ago, about four human years, to combat the Decepticons here on Earth. I have come to find him. When I do, I will send for my troops on Cybertron and we will all destroy the Decepticons!" Elita said, ending in a valiant tone.

"I just have one question." Lacey said nervously, holding up her index finger.

"Yes?"

"Are you a good guy or bad guy?"

For the first time, the Autobot smiled warmly at Lacey. "Good." Elita replied.

"Great…awesome" Lacey said in relief, giving Elita two thumbs up. "Autobots good. Decepticons bad. Listen, I think I know someone who can help you. I'll be right back." Lacey said, pulling out her cell phone and walking over to a nearby tree as Elita watched curiously. Lacey called her cousin Kyle who happened to a be a "tech-geek" and was a Sophomore at college. The last time she saw him (which was three years ago), he was talking about a video he saw on the internet about 'transforming alien robots'. If any human knew about Elita's kind, it was Kyle.

"Hello?" Kyle said groggily over the phone. It was way to early for any college student to be up.

"Kyle, it's Lacey. What do you know about those transforming robots?" She said tersely.

Kyle seemed to instantly wake up after that sentence, "Why?" he asked.

"I have one." Lacey replied. "It's my new car…she's trying to find them"

"Find a Sam Witwicky. He goes to college with me. We don't know each other, but we all know he's mixed up in those rumors about those robots. That and he's the only college student that drives an awesome car, but doesn't come from money." Kyle said.

"Ok, I'll be there in an hour."

"Shouldn't you be in school?" Kyle questioned.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" Lacey sparred.

"Shit!" Kyle exclaimed and hung up.

Lacey grinned as she walked back to Elita. "We need to find Sam Witwicky. He goes to college with my cousin. He may be able to tell you where the rest of them are. Oh crap…"

"What's wrong?" Elita asked.

"I forgot to asked Kyle which dorm that guy is in…Oh well, I'll pull a Michael Jackson and stand on your roof, yelling for Sam Witwicky."

"We'll see about that." Elita said as she transformed back into a Nissan Altima.

Lacey got in and kicked up her feet on the console, thoroughly enjoying not having to drive, much to Elita's annoyance. "So," She said, materializing a candy bar from her purse. "Tell me about yourself. Do you have a boyfriend?" she asked, dropping a bit of chocolate and caramel on the floor.

Elita's spark clenched. Yes, she had an ulterior motive for coming to Earth. Optimus made a promise to her and he broke it…..

"I'm still deciding that." Elita replied, frostily.

"Uh oh! Someone won't be to happy at the end of the this!" Lacey hollered excitedly, flinging bits of food on Elita's interior. "Here, I got the perfect song for you." she began shuffling through her cd collection in Elita's stereo, finally putting on "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac.

The song did speak to her. It was about a broken promise and a broken bond. It spoke Elita's thoughts.

"_And if you don't love me now_

_You will never love me again_

_I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain"_

The questions continued on, much to Elita's annoyance. Not only that, but Lacey was getting bits of food all over Elita!

'It's like watching over a sparkling.' Elita mused.

An hour and a half later, they arrived at their destination. Lacey felt overwhelmed. There were so many people there, she didn't know where to start looking for this Sam guy. She wasn't even she if she got his last name right. No self respecting person would willingly go by the names of 'Witwicky'. Thankfully, she spotted one of Kyle's old friends and walked up to him.

"Hey, do you know where Sam Witwicky is?"

"Yeah he's right there." Kyle's friend said, pointing to a guy getting out of a yellow Camaro with black racing stripes.

Lacey began walking to up Sam. She had no idea what she would say. Directness seemed to be the best approach.

"Sam." Lacey said.

He looked at her with an odd expression. Lacey knew he was wondering why this stranger was talking to him or how she knew his name.

"Yeah?" He said.

"I need your help with something. My car is an Autobot." Lacey explained, quietly, so no one else would hear.

That caught Sam's attention. "We can't talk here. A take your car to the woods, about half a mile south of here, so no one can see us, or our Autobots. I'll follow you." Sam said, leaning in.

Lacey nodded and drove Elita to the woods where no one was and trees shrouded them. Sam and his car, probably another Autobot, followed. Elita transformed upon arrival.

"Yep, that's an Autobot." Sam said, looking up at Elita.

Before Lacey or Sam noticed, Sam's car transformed out of it's car mode. This Autobot looked slightly less humanlike. It's car doors, sat straight up on it's back, giving the appearance of wings.

"Bumblebee!" Elita exclaimed, as she embraced the Autobot. Bumblebee smiled and hugged Elita was just as much vigor. "I've wondered what happened to you! You're all grown up!"

The Autobot know as Bumblebee began to flex what would be human muscles and show off his adult self to Elita.

"Bee was little under weather when I met him, so to speak. He couldn't talk. I'm sure he's faking it now though." Sam explained, looking at Bumblebee. Bumblebee scratched the back of his neck and looked sheepishly at the ground.

Elita smiled, "I'm not surprised. So I'm guessing it wasn't you who sent that deep space transmission. Listen Bee, I need to find the others. My forces and I have destroyed on Decepticons on Cybertron."

"So the war is half over?" Sam asked with a tinge of hope in his voice.

Bee nodded.

"The last Bee and I heard off them they somewhere in Europe targeting any Decepticons. The lower ranking Decepticons seem to scattered about the planet with Megatron and Starscream hiding out in space for a while. Bee is only here to protect me." Sam said.

"Megatron is alive?!" Elita exclaimed.

"You're going all the way to Europe to break up with this guy!?" Lacey exclaimed.

Elita turned and glared at Lacey. "I have come to Earth to fight in this war and help end it. I just have some extra business to take care off as well. Now Sam, please answer my question." she said, turning back to Sam.

"Yeah. He was resurrected." Sam said sadly, "We lost Jazz, and we almost lost Optimus but we brought him back. Who are you breaking up with?" Sam asked.

"Optimus Prime himself. More like a divorce, to use human terms." Elita said, fire lacing her voice.

"What?!" Bee exclaimed.

"What?! Optimus?! I can't see him hurting anything other than a Decepticon! What did he do?" Sam exclaimed, stunned.

"He closed our bond-link. He had this coming." Elita said coldly. It didn't feel right, those words coming from her lips. Her processor was telling her it was all Optimus' fault, that he doesn't love her anymore. Her spark was telling her the opposite, that Optimus was the only constant in her life, that he still loved her. She still loved him, no matter what her processor said.


	3. Chapter 3

"So how are we going to get to Europe so Elita can break up with this guy?" Lacey asked.

Bumblebee played a recording of something falling to the ground with a whistle and a loud thud.

Sam looked at Bee, knowing what that sound meant and he didn't like it. "No, no no," He said quickly. "Don't even think about it. Remember what happened last time? The last space bridge incident effectively mangled my hand!" Sam said, waving his once injured hand dramatically.

"I apologize Sam, but a space bridge is the only way for all of us to get to the others in a timely manner." Elita turned to Lacey, "Lacey, I am afraid this is where we must part. I cannot guarantee your safety beyond this point."

Lacey looked disappointed, but she knew she wouldn't be much help later on. She had no valuable skills or the maturity needed to go into a war, nor did she have direct involvement in this war. That, and her parents would notice if she took a joyride to Europe with sentient alien robots. "You better make it back alive. I worked hard to earn you!" She replied teasingly, but everyone knew it was uncertain if Elita would make it back. Every few things about war were certain.

Elita smiled, "I promise."

Elita and Bee distanced themselves from Lacey to open the bridge, not wanting her to get caught in it's pull. "Wait for me!" Sam called to them and turned to Lacey, "Do you have a way home?"

"Yeah, my cousin goes to school here. I'll catch a ride with him."

"Cool. I'll talk to NEST about getting a replacement car for you, one that is not an Autobot. I'm sure coming home without a car would raise some suspicion with your parents."

"That would be amazing! Thank you!" Lacey said happily. Honestly, she didn't hear anything after 'getting a replacement car for you'. Finally she could listen to the songs she wanted to!

With a nod, Sam walked over to Elita and Bumblebee. Apparently, there was some contention about who would open the space bridge. Bee wanted to, but had only done so a few times with disastrous outcomes or Elita who knew what she was doing. Elita won.

"Don't get too comfortable, Bee. We're just there to say hi and then we've got to get back here." Sam asserted.

Bee made a noise that sounded like, 'whatever' and waved Sam's order off.

Suddenly, before Lacey's eyes, the three of them were sucked up into the sky and were gone.

If you asked Sam who he preferred to open a space bridge that would send him somewhere, he would answer Elita rather than the late Jetfire. With Elita, everyone landed close together and more gently, although landing on concrete hurt either way. He stood up and surveyed his surroundings. They were on a NEST military base. He only just saw Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots when he heard,

"OPTIMUS PRIME!" Elita screeched, charging at the Autobot commander. Sam really felt bad for Optimus at that moment. A split second before she charged and they saw each other, Optimus never looked so happy.

"He's in trouble…" Ratchet said. Bee covered his own optics and Sam's eyes.

The femme-commander launched herself onto Optimus, toppling him over.

"You bastard! How could you do that? We've been together since we were younglings! You're the only mech I've been involved with! If you wanted to end our relationship, at least have the courage to do it personally!" She yelled as she pummeled Optimus.

Ironhide ran up and pulled Elita off of Optimus just as Elita was about to claw his right optic out. She continued to yell in the language Sam assumed was Cybertronian. Optimus stood up, holding his servo to his damaged optic, "I never wanted to, or ever want to, end our relationship, Elita. You must accept that there are some things that must be remedied before we open our shared stream of consciousness once more."

Sam looked at the red-hued Autobot that was being held back. Her exhaust fans were hissing and throwing off steam. "What's Optimus talking about?"

"Optimus and Elita-1 are bonded, spark mates. In human terms, Elita-1 is Optimus' wife. It can go much deeper than that if the two bots want it to, but it takes time and is not to be taken lightly. They can open a link, a bond, a stream of consciousness to be shared with the other, through which thoughts and emotions are exchanged. To close that down, is to terminate the bonding. If a couple take their relationship as far as Optimus and Elita has, termination is virtually out of the realm of possibility." Ironhide explained

"I was with spark when you left Cybertron, Optimus! It should be no question it was yours!" Elita yelled, spitefully. She knew Optimus had no choice to Cybertron, but her emotions were getting to her and all she wanted was hurt Optimus for closing their bond.

An audible, mechanical gasp echoed through the audience of the Autobots. Human soldiers began to congregate and stare too.

"Spark? Isn't that your hearts? Of course she has a spark. Why is this a surprise?" Sam asked, trying to figure out what was going on.

"She was pregnant." Ratchet replied in shock. "Perhaps you two need to continue this conversation while I take a look at your optic. There will be less ears and audio-receptors"

Ratchet took Optimus and Elita to the medical bay while the rest of Autobots taught Sam the birds and bees, Transformers style.

Ratchet did not like walking them to the Autobot medical bay. He could feel the anger radiating off of Elita. He felt uncomfortable being around the personal issues of his commanders. Reaching the destination, her instructed Optimus lay down on the medical berth and went to work on Optimus' optic.

After several long minutes, Optimus spoke up, "Elita, you knew I had no choice but to leave Cybertron. Why didn't you tell me you were with spark?"

"I didn't want to add any more stress the situation. The sparkling did not live to be born. I was injured in battle and it was killed. Dilation and curettage was performed later." Elita replied, numbly.

"Elita, you should have told me. I could have been there for you." Optimus said, sounding hurt for not being included in Elita's time of need.

"I know you would have, but you were needed elsewhere. I had Chromia with me."

"I do not wish to downplay the significance of your first sparkling's life, but you two can start trying for another as soon as you feel up to it." Ratchet informed. He gave Elita a quick checkup, promising to fix minor injuries once things calm down and left the two alone.

"What happened Optimus?" Elita asked, wanting to cut to the chase.

"Nothing." He said, standing and pulling Elita into an embrace, "My feelings have not changed for you. I still love you more than I could ever express. I closed our bond to protect you."

Elita pulled away slightly so she could look into his optics. His optics were her favorite feature to him. She wasn't surprised she choose to attack his optics first, rather than, _other_ anatomical parts on her list to disable. Guilt was welling up inside her for what she did and feared she never look Optimus in the optics without feeling horrible, even though it was fully repaired.

"What do you mean?"

"It's nothing I cannot handle."


End file.
